"One of the most entertaining things to do on websites that allow customer reviews of CDs is read the apoplectic fury Kurt Cobain's fans have for the original Nirvana, the cultily-adored British psych-pop group from the late '60s. Much of that misguided and ill-informed venom seems to be directed toward this album, Nirvana's 1967 debut. [...]

Eins og glöggir lesendur hafa eflaust tekið eftir er ég mjög hrifinn af gamalli sýrutónlist árana '66 til '71. Þetta tímabili, sem náði hápunkti sumarið 69, finnst mér það lang áhugaverðasta í tónlistarsögunni enda mikil gerjun og umbrot sem áttu sér stað í heiminum á þessum tíma. Tónlistarsköpunin var drifin áfram af neyslu hugvíkkandi lyfja, ögrun við ríkjandi gildi, pólitískum og hugmyndafræðilegum baráttuanda og tilraunagleði sem sem átti sér engin fordæmi. Úr varð slíkur gnægtarbrunnur að fólk er enn í dag að uppgötva sveitir og plötur sem reynast algerir gullmolar og veita ungum tónlistarmönnum ríkan innblástur. Ég læt [...]

My New Orleans Public School kindergarten report card. Same as it ever was. This has been a nutty year, filled with lots of sorrow which I worried I might never get over. But I did. Or at least, I'm out of the tunnel, and I amazed by my own resilience or whatever it is. Of course, music is the panacea, and I've found a lot of music to dig this year. So I'd like to share this mix with my readers. Including but not limited to: Cher covering The Kinks. Young Michael Jackson tackling the complexities [...]

Holy shit, people. This one might be the holy grail. You all know how much I love terrible movies -- especially ones that achieve the so-called "triple crown of awfulsome", a term I've just now invented. That is, a movie that fails miserably on the three most important levels: writing, acting, and direction. House Of Wax and AntiTrust are both considered to be triple crown winners (although the latter is more of a sci-fi thriller than a horror movie). Well, this past week a film arrived at the store, and I tell you...it was love at [...]

I'm back in Los Angeles now, sitting on Nicci's couch, watching her create her own Nintendo Wii character. It's been a relatively uneventful twenty-four hours since I've returned. I woke up and went to work today -- apparently my boss found his way onto my Facebook profile, so it's only a matter of time he stumbles across this here website and loses the last shred of respect for me that was left after viewing all my Facebook photo albums. Expect a notice of unemployment here any day now. By the way, I received a very handsome $25 donation [...]

I hate doctors offices. The people are always much more sick than I am, and it makes me worried that I'm going to contract whatever illness they have. Then I spend three hours in the waiting room with these people, like the kid who won't stop vomiting mucus or the girl who turns away from me and sneezes every twenty seconds even though her germs are just being deflected in my direction by her hands. I get into the waiting room and I'm there another two or three hours. Then the doctor finally peeks his head in the door. He [...]

The heat wave continues. I spent all afternoon in the Glendale Barnes and Noble reading various texts to pass the time. The few times I stepped outside I could instantly feel the sun scorching my skin. My car's thermometer measured the air temperature at 108 degrees. I thought that was a little high, but the owner of the market around the corner from my apartment said the one in his store reached 105. I think it's supposed to continue like this for another day or two. I need to find something else to do tomorrow to occupy my mind. If [...]